MANCHESTER — Behind the walls of a nondescript, white cinder-block building on Beech Street, home to Sterling Linen Services, new technology is being tested that could revolutionize the way we do laundry.

On the outside, it looks like any industrial-sized, front-loaded washing machine. But what’s happening on the inside is something entirely different. Developed by Xeros Ltd., a British company, the machine uses polymer beads instead of water in a process that its creators say cleans better and is far better for the environment.

TIME magazine listed the Xereos machine as one of the 50 best inventions of 2010, and predicted that a commercial model would be available in 2011. So far, only 10 Xeros machines exist worldwide, with only one in North America, and it’s here in Manchester.

Jonathan Benjamin, who with his partners owns Sterling Linen, was chosen by Xeros to represent the company in its efforts to reach U.S. markets, targeting commercial and industrial laundries at first, with hopes of breaking into the consumer market by 2014.

Benjamin describes his company as being in a strategic alliance with Xeros to test the technology at first, then to acquire other partners. Since the machine was first installed in August, Benjamin’s crew at Sterling Linen has been putting it through its paces, cleaning thousands of pounds of linen for Sterling’s hotel, hospital and restaurant customers throughout New England.

“It’s conservation technology without sacrificing wash quality,” Benjamin said. TIME called it “The (Almost) Waterless Washing Machine,” because it does use some water, but only about 10 percent of what is used in a conventional washing machine. Most of the cleaning power come from reusable, stain-absorbing nylon beads whose molecular qualities attract or absorb soil from all types of fabric with help from a special Xeros detergent solution.

The end result, according to Xeros, is clean laundry with 90 percent less water, 50 percent fewer chemicals, and up to a 50 percent reduction in energy use. The process reduces the volume of toxins in laundry discharge, and the beads are recycled to make new beads every 500 or so wash cycles.

Since August, Sterling managers have been closely monitoring the water volume, electricity use and wash quality. “Based on the results of what we’ve seen, it’s been pretty eye-opening,” Benjamin said.

The science behind the Xeros machines has been in development for more than 30 years at the University of Leeds in England.

The first commercial machine was built in 2007.

The route one of those machines followed to get to Manchester went through Kansas City, Benjamin’s home town.

Xeros had been working with a chain of dry cleaners in the Kansas City area, Green Earth Cleaning, co-founded by Benjamin’s father, to replace toxic trichlorethylene with silicone as a cleaning agent.

Benjamin’s father introduced Xeros executives to his son, and the partnership was struck.

Sterling was considered an ideal proving ground for the new technology, with its 120 employees processing 10 million pounds of laundry each year from the 30,000-square-foot facility on Beech Street. The next step for Benjamin is to bring a few more machines online with a couple hotels and retail dry cleaners he described as “affirmation partners.”

“We are talking to early adapters,” he said, and there has been no shortage of interest.

The real test will come at the annual laundry industry trade show, the “Clean Show,” in June 2013 in New Orleans, where Xeros will make its first real pitch to a broader market, with Benjamin helping to lead the charge.

“In 15 years time, people will be washing this way,” he said. “It offers so much utility that it’s just too good to ignore.”

If those predictions prove true, that could very well be to Manchester’s advantage. Benjamin and his partners have already demonstrated their ability to grow a business, making Sterling Linen 10 times larger than it was when they acquired it in 2004.

“Manchester is becoming an R&D hub for Xeros, which could create other opportunities in this area,” he said.

“Xeros North America could become a nationwide enterprise, and it all started here in this community.”

dsolomon@unionleader.com